gyaanipediafandomcom-20200213-history
DeAndre Harris
}} DeAndre Harris, also known as Dre Harris, is a teacher who was beaten by six men in an attack on August 12, 2017 at the parking garage next to the police headquarters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Images and video of the assault captured by photojournalists went viral and became a symbol of the enmity underlying the protest. The New York Times, the Washington Post, BBC, and CNN, and many others, reported the beating, often featuring graphic videos and photos within the context of the clash. On October 2, 2017, Harris was again in local, regional and national news, when the story of a warrant for his arrest was headlined. In an unexpected turn of events, the warrant sought by Harold Crews, the chairman of North Carolina's League of the South, charged Harris with a felony of unlawful wounding in an altercation that took place minutes before Harris was cornered by white supremacists and beaten unconscious with metal poles. Since the assault, with his attackers still at large, Harris has been receiving hate mail and death threats. Out of concerns for his safety, he moved out of Charlottesville and resigned from his teaching position at a Charlottesville high school. On October 11, police arrested a third man — the three are all from out-of-state — for malicious wounding. The men had been identified through a social-media sleuthing campaign led by writer Shaun King. Critics argued that these arrests had taken too long. In their August, 2017 report calling on high-level American public officials to reject racially-motivated violent events in Charlottesville and throughout the United States, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) which monitors the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) cited two victims by name, Deandre Harris and Heather D. Heyer, 32, who was killed. Unite the Right rally There were about 500 protesters onsite, to demonstrate their opposition to Charlottesville City Council's decision to remove Confederate monuments and memorials from public spaces. On Saturday morning, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe declared the protest as an "unlawful assembly". Beating Harris and several friends arrived at Emancipation Park (formerly known as Lee Park) in Charlottesville as counter-protesters at about 11 AM. According to an article in the Virginian Pilot, Harris said that in the brief time he was at the Rally, he was "hit with water bottles, pepper-sprayed and had "derogatory slurs hurled" at him by protesters. In less than an hour, law enforcement began to clear both protesters and counterprotesters from the Park after Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe had declared the "Unite the Right" protest as an "unlawful assembly. The white nationalists came into closer contact with the counterprotesters lining the streets, as law enforcement pushed them out of the Park. There were about a thousand counterprotesters. protesting against racism. In an August 13 interview, photojournalist, Zach D. Roberts, who was an eye witness filming the attack, described how "the violence began when Charlottesville police pushed white nationalists out of Emancipation Park and into the streets where counterprotesters were stationed." Harris with a few friends, including Vonzz Long, were leaving the Park on East Market Street along with other counterprotesters and protesters, when Harris and his friends "exchanged words" with the white nationalists. This altercation was captured by journalist, Chuck Modi, who like Roberts, was an eye witness whose video went viral online. Roberts said that the exchange "spilled into a parking lot close to the Charlottesville Police Department building." Harris was separated from his friends in the chaos of the crowd and was "cornered" by white supremacists. In an interview with News Leader, Long described how, "When we walked to the car, that's when my friend (Harris) got attacked. The hate group came out of nowhere and sprayed mace. It was so chaotic. The hospital said he could have died. The police didn't do anything. They wouldn't even run over to see if my friend was okay. One of the counter-protestors called an ambulance for us." Long said there was a "lot of orange mace everywhere...when I eventually find him, he's in a stairway by the elevator", he too was threatened by the men who were beating Harris. They pummeled him with poles, metal pipe, and wood slabs. Once Harris had been pulled to safety and was being seen by a "street medic with a first aid kit", Roberts informed police about the assault on Harris. Roberts was concerned that "Harris was left bleeding and battered for about 30 minutes before he got any formal medical attention." Harris credits "a stranger he only knows as Karen" for keeping him alive in the first half hour after the beating; "She talked to me and kept me calm and really kept me awake. I was fading and she woke me up. I was losing so much blood, the people at the hospital told me I was lucky." Harris suffered a head laceration requiring eight staples, a concussion, a knee injury, fractured forearm, a chipped tooth, internal injuries, and a spinal injury. The assault was captured by photographs and video footage which were widely spread online through social media and mainstream news. Charlottesville police would later arrest three of the men in connection to the beating after an internet campaign led by Shaun King, known for using social media for social justice issues, identified the men connected with the beating by calling on members of the public to examine photos and videos on social media, such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Journalist, Chuck Modi uploaded his now famous video clip of the beating almost immediately on Twitter. It has been widely reposted online on main stream media outlets such as VOX, and the Washington Post. The photos eventually spread to hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom claimed Daniel Borden was among Harris' attackers." By August 15, the series of "disturbing photos of Harris" being assaulted, which were taken from close range by photographer Zach D. Roberts, had already gone viral. Zach's caption that accompanied the photo that was uploaded to Twitter shortly after the incident, "Earlier in a parking garage in #Charlottesville - white supremacists beat this black kid w/poles. for by @zdroberts @NationofChange According to law enforcement, including Harris, thirty five people were injured on August 12 at the Unite the Right rally. The Charlottesville Police Department, the Virginia State Police and the FBI investigated the assault. On August 24, 2017, nearly two weeks after the brutal beating of Harris at the rally, eighteen-year-old Daniel P. Borden from Mason, Ohio] was charged. On August 28, 33-year-old Alex Michael Ramos of Marietta, Georgia was arrested with charges of malicious wounding. Jacob Scott Goodwin (22) from Ward, Arkansas, was arrested on October 11, 2017. This article includes the photo with the caption: "A group of six men violently beat DeAndre Harris, a counterprotester, in a parking garage next to the Charlottesville Police Department on Aug. 12 after a white nationalist rally was dispersed by police. Editor's note: This video contains graphic content." Warrant Members of the North Carolina's League of the South, including 48-year-old Harold Ray Crews, the League's North Carolina chairman, the League's Public relations spokesman, Hunter Wallace and others, alleged that Harris had injured Crews, who is a real estate lawyer from Kernisville, during an altercation in front of the garage just before Harris was beaten by white supremacists. The League of the South presented their evidence to both the Charlottesville Police and the commonwealth of Virginia attorney. When they did not issue a warrant, Wallace and Crews went to Merlyn Goeschl, a local judge. On October 9, 2017, Merlyn Goeschl, a local magistrate, signed a warrant for Harris' arrest on a felony charge of unlawful wounding, which is "punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,500 fine." AP journalist reported on October 9, that according to police spokesman, Lt. Stephen Upman, the "alleged victim Ray Crews told the magistrate's office Goeschl] what happened." Goeschl contacted police, "who verified facts and issued the warrant." This article, like many others posted Chuck Modi's now famous video clip on Twitter with the caption "Fight broke out. Nazis beat black kid w/sticks at end. I kick one in back 2 help & he runs after me. Kid is safe but bloody" and the hashtag #Charlottesville" Goeschl "said she found probable cause to believe Harris committed the offense based on the personal statements of Crews." Harris was never considered "at-large;" he made contact with Charlottesville police and cooperated with them. The warrant was issued on October 9 and Harris turned himself in on October 12. According to a October 12 Washington Post article, "online footage shows Crews trying to spear another counterprotester of Harris' friends with the pole of a Confederate flag, prompting Harris to fight back. Harris swung his flashlight at Crews, appearing to hit him." However, Harris' attorney, S. Lee Merritt, said, "It was a flimsy swing. It would not have justified the kind of charges brought in this case." Merritt provided NBC News with another video clip shot on August 12 later in the day, when DeAndre was already at the ER at Martha Jefferson Hospital. Merritt said that in the clip we see "a group of white men pummeling Crews, one of them striking Crews in the head with a blunt object." He said, "If there's medical evidence of significant injury, it’s more likely that it was a result of this incident, when he was struck in the head while he was completely off guard." Aftermath Harris, who was born in Suffolk, Virginia, was hired after he graduated from Lakeland High School in 2015, as an "instructional assistant in the special education program at a local Charlottesville high school", where he was worked until forced to leave Charlottesville, due to threats on his life that he was receiving after the assault. Harris feared for his safety because the six attackers were still at large weeks after the incident. According to an article in The Daily News, by August 18, no arrests had been made in spite of the dozens of people in the front lines, taking photos and videos of the assault, some of which went viral on social media. In the week after the assault, as Harris was recovering from his severe injuries, attacks against him continued on social media and he received "threats and messages of hate" on his phone. Harris' mother "encouraged people to take a public stance against racism" citing the example of DeAndre and Heather Heyer. In his home town of Suffolk, Virginia, a peace march, "Justice for Dre Peace Rally" was planned for August 19, 2017 in support of Harris, which was also going to include a "memorial prayer for Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old who was killed" in the Charlottesville attack. The event was cancelled by the organizer, Imari Griffin, 25, for security reasons; "75 people still showed up on Saturday evening, praying and talking. By August 19, the attack on Harris had already drawn a "lot of attention nationally". A GoFundMe page for Harris raised more than $164,000 to support him. Crews' allies consider the arrest warrant against Harris as a victory. Wallace called "Harris’ charge the end of 'another race hoax' and prominent white nationalist Richard B. Spencer said it was "the end of the Deandre Haris sic myth." In an interview with the Washington Post, Shaun King said, "I am disgusted that the justice system bent over backwards to issue a warrant for one of the primary victims of that day, when I and others had to fight like hell to get that same justice system to prosecute people who were vicious in their attacks against Harris and others. Now, we’re seeing white supremacists celebrate on social media, bragging about Harris’s arrest. They’re hailing this as a victory." International response United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)/(ICERD) In their August 18, 2017 report filed under its Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedures, calling upon the U.S. government to respect its ICERD obligations to "combat and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination", CERD experts recalled the "horrific events in Charlottesville of 11-12 August, 2017 leading to the death of Ms. Heather Heyer, and the injuries inflicted on many other protesters, as well as the terrible beating of Mr. Deandre Harris by white supremacists." The UN Committee experts condemned "the failure at the highest political level of the United States of America to unequivocally reject and condemn” racist violence. Notes References Category:Living people Category:People from Suffolk, Virginia Category:Politics and race in the United States Category:Race-related controversies in the United States Category:Unite the Right rally Category:Riots and civil disorder in Virginia Category:Violence in Virginia Category:Unite the Right rally Category:Charlottesville, Virginia Category:Fascism in the United States Category:Neo-fascist terrorism Category:Neo-Nazism in the United States Category:Political violence in the United States Category:Race-related controversies in the United States Category:Riots and civil disorder in Virginia Category:White American riots in the United States Category:White nationalism in the United States Category:White supremacy in the United States Category:American victims of crime